Mine!
by LokiFenokee
Summary: Maui goes looking for treasure and finds something else instead. A prompt-fic part of the Moana Holiday Exchange.


_A gift fic to Glamorous-Revenge as part of the Moana Holiday Exchange in December, filling in since her prompt wasn't filled during the exchange._

 _The prompt was: "Maui meets Tamatoa for the first time"_

 _Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

Lalotai was _the_ place for adventure, everyone knew that. Awash in wild, glowing colors and practically teeming with monsters to fight and treasures to find, it was the perfect place for a young demigod to prove himself—a young demigod like the one marching confidently through the bizarre landscape, carelessly swinging a huge, intricately carved fishhook as he walked.

Maui had come to Lalotai in search of yet another treasure to impress the mortals. The Golden Cowrie of Oriata was said to possess mythical powers, though what exactly those powers entailed wasn't really clear. Regardless, Maui was sure it would make a fine gift to the humans.

He had tracked it down to this odd, dark corner of the Realm of Monsters, where weird, twisted rock formations reached with tormented fingers towards the underside of the ocean, rippling overhead. In places where the rocks touched the sea, shimmering waterfalls of saltwater cascaded down in thin, silvery ribbons until they pooled in little ponds on the rocky terraces. Many-tentacled anemones sprouted from crevices in the rocks as well, glowing blue and pink in the shadows. The effect was surreal and, all in all, it looked terribly treacherous and foreboding.

Yep, this must be the place!

The labyrinthine cathedral of stone and water was too jumbled and dense for him to spot the Golden Cowrie from the air as a hawk, so Maui would have to proceed on foot. He slung his hook over his shoulder and stepped inside the shadowy maze. The glowing anemones cast the stones into an eerie, flickering light as he climbed through the tangle of jagged stones and the roar of falling water echoed around him, drowning out the monstrous animal calls that composed the typical background noise of Lalotai.

Nevertheless, more than once Maui could have sworn he heard the scrape of something moving against stone. He had looked for the sound's source, but only seen more of the distant flickers from the bioluminescent anemones. He shrugged it off and carried on.

After a good long while of searching, Maui was beginning to get frustrated. Where _was_ this thing? He looked down, peering over the edge of the wide stone terrace he stood upon. It was a long way down. He had climbed nearly halfway to the sea by now and still nothing. If he didn't find this silly shell soon, he was going to leave and go after something else instead. He had heard the mythic Spear of Rahiti was down here somewhere, and maybe—

Wait! What was that?

A soft gleam of gold emanated from nearby, peeking out from around a rocky outcropping. The source was just out of his line of sight, but it _had_ to be the Golden Cowrie. _Finally!_ It was about time he found this thing! He hurried over, splashing through one of the salty puddles of water pooled on the ledge.

Maui rounded the corner at a fast clip, an eager grin spreading on his face. The cheers that the humans would lavish upon him were already ringing in his ears. Ah, there it was! The gilded cowrie shell sat in a bubble of warm light on a crudely chiseled rock pedestal. The shell was a big as a coconut, pulsing with its own muted gold illumination in the dappled shadows. He stared at it, enchanted as his mind whirled with the possibilities. It was lovely—a mighty gift for the mortals! How they would praise his name when he presented it to them!

Distracted, he reached for the shell, but just as his fingers touched it, his hand was intercepted. He blinked in surprise. Looking up from the enticing gleam of the cowrie, Maui found himself staring into a pair of enormous, mismatched eyes, glowing brightly in the shadow and looking just as startled as his own. It was a crab—a _big_ crab, standing nearly a head taller than Maui himself and outweighing him by more than half by the looks of it. Its face was illuminated by neon blue and pink markings. Maui glanced down at his hand, fouled by the creature's claw-also glowing a bright bioluminescent blue-as it also grasped for the same treasure.

The instant he broke eye contact with the creature, the claw batted his hand away and snatched up the cowrie. It happened so fast, Maui barely had time to register it.

"Mine!"

The crab was already turning to flee with the pilfered treasure when Maui's brain caught up. "Not a chance!" he fired back.

With a yell, he launched himself at the thief. The crab hadn't gotten more than a few steps before Maui landed on his back. The impact knocked the crab flat on the ground and the cowrie tumbled from his grip.

"Get off of me!" the crab growled, reaching back to snap at Maui with a pincer. The claw closed around Maui's forearm, pinching hard enough to make him yelp. Then the crab yanked him forward, pulling Maui off his shell and slamming him into the ground.

Maui lay stunned for the span of a heartbeat. The crab was _strong_. Then the claw was descending towards him again. Regaining his wits, Maui rolled fast to the side to avoid the blow and jumped back to his feet just as the crab got back to his.

Both glaring fiercely, they squared off. Maui brandished his hook, now glowing blue with power waiting to be unleashed. The crab had his pincers raised, snapping in threat. They circled each slowly, tension almost palpable in the air and broken only by the clicking of the crab's pointed dactyls on the stony ground.

Maui gave his adversary a taunting, cheeky grin.

The crab didn't hesitate, darting forward into a lunge with claws open wide, vivid neon colors almost leaving a trace of light in the air behind him. He was shockingly _fast_ , too—fast enough that Maui only had seconds to react. He was prepared, though, and in a flash of blue shifted into a lizard.

Dropping to the ground just as the heavy claws snapped shut over him, Maui scampered away on lizard legs—heading straight for the cowrie that the crab had dropped.

Behind him, Maui could hear a blistering curse from the crab, followed by an angry hiss, "A shapeshifter!"

Maui paid it no heed and hurried on. As soon as he reached the cowrie, he shifted back to his human skin, grabbing it up off the ground with a triumphant shout.

His victory was short lived. A claw snagged his ankle and jerked backwards, yanking his feet right out from under him and sending him face-planting into the ground. This time it really did knock the wind of out him. It was only by sheer dumb luck that he managed to keep ahold of the cowrie, but the impact was jarring enough that his hook flew from his hands and slid across the rocky terrace. He watched in horror as it fell over the edge, landing with a clatter on some lower level. Uh oh.

Before he could get his breath back, there was a pointed leg jabbing him in the back. A claw grabbed his hair and pulled hard.

"OW! Not the hair!" he gasped out.

Forgetting the cowrie in the face of potential damage to his precious, silky locks, he reached up with both hands to free his hair. It was only then Maui realized his mistake. Quick as a flash, the crab reached down with his other claw and snagged the abandoned seashell.

Now it was the crab who whooped in triumph, holding his prize high and laughing with glee.

Maui let out a guttural growl and reached behind his head with both hands to grab the claw still in his hair. Closing both hands over it, he heaved with all his strength.

"Wait, no!" came a startled yelp from the crab.

The claw released from his hair as the creature was flung off of Maui. A heavy thud rattled the loose stones around them as he landed. Looking shocked and dazed, the crab was splayed with legs akimbo near the edge of the terrace. He'd managed to stay upright, though, and still clung tenaciously to the golden cowrie.

For a long moment they both just lay there in the dust, panting and glaring.

"This is _mine!_ " the crab said in between breaths, still gripping the seashell. "I saw it first!"

"No way," Maui bit out. "I'm taking it to the humans, so—" He forced more air into his lungs. "—give it up or I'll—"

"You'll _what?_ " the crab shot back, still heaving for breath.

Well, that was a good question. Maui hadn't had an opponent this fast and strong in a while. He glanced at where his hook had fallen over the edge of the cliff. Without his hook, they were actually pretty evenly matched. Maui wasn't really accustomed to fights he couldn't end in one hit, and if it weren't for the Golden Cowrie hanging in the balance, it might be fun to have an equal partner to spar with for once.

The crab was smirking at him, apparently still waiting for him to back his threat up. Well, Maui could at least still bluster and stall while he gathered up his strength again to make good on it.

"I'm a demigod!" he warned. "I'll smite you!"

"Oh no, a _demigod_ ," the crab simpered. "I'm terrified!" He paused, shooting Maui a taunting grin, "Do all _semigods_ smell as bad as you?"

The crab was sounding less winded now and it occurred to Maui that he might _also_ be stalling to recover. Indeed, the crab's legs were starting to shift just slightly in the dust. Maui was going to have to get there first, if he didn't want to get taken by surprise himself.

He tensed, muscles bunching.

"Oh, you're real fun—"

Breaking off mid-sentence, Maui launched himself up and barreled headlong towards the crab, who let out a startled yelp and hastily scrambled to his feet. The crab backed up fast, but quickly ran out of room to flee—his legs hitting the crumbling end of the ledge. Even backed up against a perilous drop, he still wouldn't give up. He held the cowrie up, over his head and out of Maui's reach. The other claw shot out to fend Maui off, but Maui managed to catch ahold of it first and held it firmly closed with one hand.

With the other hand, he reached ineffectively up for the shell, held above him.

"No way, man! You're _not_ giving this to those dumb hum—AAAH!"

Maui's hand closed around the crab's antennae and tugged hard, eliciting a pained shriek from the monster. He yanked again, trying to drag the struggling crab's head and claw down.

"Augh! Let go!" Another yank and another shriek. "LET GO!"

"Not till you give it here!"

"No!" the crab replied petulantly, refusing to lower his claw.

Maui prepared to jerk the antennae again, but then there was a harsh caw from above them—audible even over their bickering.

In unison, they both looked up just in time to see an enormous bird monster, looking like an overgrown seagull, swoop down towards them. Before either of them could react, it snatched the Golden Cowrie right out of the crab's claw and soared upward. A harsh, croaking call, sounding very much like a laugh, lingered in its wake.

Both Maui and the crab stood frozen in place, watching dumbstruck as the bird flew off with their treasure. Then it was gone, vanishing into the wilds of Lalotai again.

The crab's eyestalks swiveled back to look down at Maui. Maui looked back warily.

The large eyes seemed to size him up and down, and Maui tensed, expecting the fight to pick back up again. Instead, the giant crab remained silent for a long moment before finally speaking.

"So… you wanna help me get that back?"


End file.
